I love u, 2013!!

Today I bought a lens whose firmware can be updated via a USB dock.

The climber/mountaineer/messy person in me went: "huh?!! Another thing to dirty up (and not clean)!"

The geek in me started singing and has not stopped since. I love this decade!!

One picture Tuesday

Sometimes [enter long rant about students not attending lectures, students not thinking before doing things etc] ... But wait! DURIANS!

I am not a vainpot

- Doris Lin, I'm looking at you! -

So, I'm here in Singapore to teach. This involves teaching weekend intensives that last, you got it, for the entire weekend plus Friday night. This means that I have to teach on Friday for 3 hours, on Saturday for 6 hours, and on Sunday for 7-8 hours, straight. With a lunch break on Sunday and probably 10 mins breaks every other hour or so. If I have to teach, I really have to stand because I'm not the tallest human being out there, so students can't. see. me. (all you tall readers out there - and yes, this means the fucking whole internet - stop chuckling RIGHT NOW!) I also like to move around a lot so I really really need to stand.

On Friday night I wore my formal black pumps, with a bit of heel. Teaching + a late night (11:30pm) walk to Ippudo (DELICIOUS RAMEN!) and back cured me of the formal black pumps and their tiny heel. I took them off right before reaching my hotel because THE PAIN could no longer listen to THE VANITY. And I swore not to wear them again in hot weather for fucks sake.

On Saturday I lowered my standards and wore formal academic wear (snort!) with canvas pumps, because yeah, I love my feet. Still, late night dinner and walk around with San and I was dying again.

On Sunday, I still wore formal academic wear (snort!) and my Birks, because fuck yeah I love my feet. I will be wearing Birks for the entire week, regardless of what clothes I wear. Birks FTW!

That being said, I don't understand how I can put my feet in 2-sizes smaller Solutions for ages and die when I'm wearing pumps. Hm.

Comfort food

Comfort food used to be for me something like mashed potatoes with cheese. Or cheese toasties with mashed potatoes.

But recently, this has become comfort food.... I think it's because we stop at Modern China after all our trips and pig out... Anyway, this dish does not compare to the Adelaide one. I could eat this everyday!!

It is NOT chili soup - it is szechuan beef at Paradise Inn restaurant. FTW!

Sakrifice!!!

I may be a terrible lecturer but I'm a dedicated one: I saw this but spared my students my durian breath.

I shall return!!

Color!!

Singapore airlines has turquoise seats AND I AM SITTING IN ONE OF THEM! Life is good!

One picture Tuesday

Today I realized that I probably am a pathetic lecturer. This is kind of depressing as I was hoping that it  could be my super-power! Sigh.

And then I started thinking and pondering and I realized that really the only thing that I'm good at is having a really cute cat.

I guess I could live with this too. 

Overestimation

Is when ...
... You think you can read Swann's way in its original French only to realize that your French is probably only good for Around the world in 80 days

... You overshoot while jumping sideways for a jug only to latch on and fall immediately causing a massive flapper

... You print out things thinking you have 70 students in the class only to realize that there are only 50

... You think you can read a misanthrope book like Journey to the end of the night only to realize that you've been reading Jeffrey Deaver's forensic criminalist books just to avoid it

... You drink yet another coffee thinking it's going to be ok only to realize that FOUR is probably too fucking much!

I'm becoming an Internet sensation

This semester I'm teaching a distributed systems course, and the first assignment not only required students to implement something bug (GASP!!) asked them to test it. I got sooo tired to answer questions about testing that I decided to make some videos about it. A youtube channel and five recordings later (out of which three were failed because I had forgotten TO PRESS THE DAMN BUTTON) and I'm a bloody internet sensation.

At 34 views in total for 2 videos, I have (in two days) acquired 6 (SIX) likes and 2 comments!!! ZOMG! My channel also has 8 (EIGHT) subscribers. Teaching by youtube FTW!!!

One picture Tuesday

On Thursday because I'm special like that.

Training has started in full so last night was well spent in waterfall gully, bringing the total number of animals we have disrupted to 12: 4 kangaroos, 3 koalas and 5 possums.

Monkey surprise!

Battles have been fought over women but wars have been fought over tamarind!!

We were just sitting there, chilaxing on Pra Nang beach after a hard day of climbing (snort!), enjoying the tamarind I had just bought from a nearby stand. It was delicious!!

A bunch of monkeys appeared from nowhere and started walking on the beach. When I say a couple I mean a fucking pack of the nasty little brats. I would normally not say that were it not for the events that followed.

So here we were, sitting on the beach, chillaxing and eating tamarind. The monkeys, fuelled by the idiots that fed them, confidently approached our chillaxing and eating tamarind location. Sandra got up ready to move away. I was packing up the remaining tamarind and putting it in one of the backpack's pockets, but had still not left our chillaxind and eating tamarind location.

Practically out of nowhere (not really), a monkey confidently approached the backpack and headed straight for the pocket with the tamarind, bypassing everything else (mosquito coil, guide book, brush).

LEAVE IT! LET THEM HAVE IT! said San.

No! says I to Sandra. And, to the monkey: MINE!!

I grab the backpack (Deuter 38 l if you must) and whack the monkey on the head.

Mine! I say again to the surprised monkey as I put the backpack on my back and leave, probably entering history as the first tourist who fought a monkey over sweet and spicy tamarind.

[Later edit]: The look on the monkey's face was priceless as well: I reckon it did not expect so much resilience from two female tourists, but we (whereby "we" I mean "I") showed her!

One picture Tuesday - warning!

Don't scroll down - flapper picture ahead!





























And this is what I get for trying too hard in comps: probably the biggest flapper I've had in a while... Come to think of it, I haven't had a flapper in like 3 years!

In retrospect, after looking at this picture, I should have cut that skin much much shorter - I could not really do it as my hands were shaking and tears were flowing: as it's probably obvious, this is not a superficial flapper but a really deep one (aka, the motherflapper). Motherflapper!

Clearly I need more coffee

Today is the day when I formally apologise to people that have been listening to my recorded lectures: I do not make any sense and I am sooo sorry! I wonder if this explains why some students fail my courses?!! AAARGH!!!!

Here are some quotes from today's lecture (a student posted them on Fbook):

• Today I'm going to talk about rainbows
• We can talk about rainbows in the review lecture
• Do you know this story? Of course not, I haven't told it to you.
• (when talking about map reduce): A flock of elephants ... Did I just say a flock of elephants?!
• Multi-threaded programming is like killing Cerberus: you need to kill all of these three heads (signals/wait, race conditions, deadlock). You need to be like Hercules...." *teeth shine* "you also need to have shiny teeth."

Dear me. Clearly I need more coffee. Clearly, climbing a muerte in yesterday's competition did not help either. zzz. dead. 

Happy birthday, my introvert friend!

This is the nastiest birthday present I can give you, and thus have deferred it for when it's close to your birthday! Enjoy!

The stationery monster is back again

As a stationery freak, one of the advantages of having lots and lots of students is that you can check out their writing gear, and then, sometimes, ask to try stuff out.

Enter the mostamazingfountainpenthativeseeninawhilecanihaveitplease?!!please?!! fountain pen, which I tried recently, while trying to find something to reward myself for recent successes (mind you, they are not exactly my successes, but still, I will tag along anytime!). So I tried the mostamazingfountainpenthativeseeninawhilecanihaveitplease?!!please?!! yesterday and really loved it, as the name implies. Not only that, but I really really loved the ink that was in it as well.

So I figured, FINE! I will not buy the mostamazingfountainpenthativeseeninawhilecanihaveitplease?!!please?!! yet, I will wait until I am really depressed by something or somebody, and THEN buy it. Nevertheless, perhaps the ink is within my reach!

So I ask said student about where can one find the ink - I try the suggested website and of course, they don't have it anymore. Other websites do store it but it would take eons (2 weeks) to get it, and I want it yesterday! I ask for other websites and get links that describe other inks, but not specifically the one I had tried.  Obsessive much? But surely this is normal?! Surely there are other people out there that need their writing (ok, fine, climbing as well) instruments to be exactly to spec? And to be delivered before they actually know that they really really want it?

Sigh. First world problems. No  mostamazingfountainpenthativeseeninawhilecanihaveitplease?!!please?!! for me thankyouverymuch. No really really awesome ink either. damn.